Olympic sites give taxpayers rough ride

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Children on target at the Olympics archery site at Homebush Bay. Photo: Dallas Kilponen

NSW taxpayers are contributing about $46 million a year to keep struggling Olympic venues across Sydney open, four years after the "best ever" Games.

As well, the owners of the two biggest Olympic venues, Telstra Stadium and Sydney SuperDome, have deferred or, in SuperDome's case, failed to pay millions of dollars in levies since 2001, leaving taxpayers almost $6 million out of pocket.

The State Government trumpeted that Sydney's Games were paid for up front, leaving no debt for future generations.

But just a few years later, some venues are in deep trouble, most are losing money and many are costing taxpayers millions.

The privately run SuperDome at Homebush Bay recently went into receivership, after losing $10.5 million in the previous financial year. It has also failed to pay the annual $500,000 levy to the Sydney Olympic Park Authority since 2001, leaving the venue $2.2 million in debt, and rising.

The Sydney International Equestrian Centre at Horsley Park receives a $1.3 million-a-year subsidy, or $310 for each of the 4185 riders who used it last financial year.

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At the nearby Sydney International Shooting Centre in Cecil Park, taxpayers chip in $10 for each dollar the centre earns, or $1.1 million a year for the 5388 people who used it in 2003-04.

The $36 million International Regatta Centre, near Penrith, receives $1.7 million a year but operators say about 608,000 people visited it last year. Many of these use it as a dog walking venue rather than for rowing.

Blacktown Olympic Park, meanwhile, sucks up $1.26 million of funding, from the state and the local council, to allow about 300,000 people a year to visit.

And Fairfield Council spent $600,000 to build the Olympic mountain bike track but has closed it because too few people used it to justify the $50,000 maintenance bill.

The Premier, Bob Carr, said yesterday: "We went from having a deficit of sporting facilities to having an excess in some areas, but that was always going to be the case when you offer yourself for a world sporting festival and make the decision that you will not live with mediocrity or compromise."

But the Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said the amount of money spent on the venues needed to be reassessed.

"It's time that Carr stopped trading off past Olympic glory, and addressed the drain on the public purse," she said. "Where former Olympic sites are of no public good and are wasting public money, the Premier does need to stop the facade of the 'best Olympics ever' and end the mismanagement, and find useful community benefits for these white elephants."

However, it is not all red ink.

Telstra Stadium made a $12.4 million profit, its first, for the final six months of last year, helped by the Rugby World Cup.

And although the Penrith Whitewater Stadium, owned by the local council, receives no subsidy, it is faring better than most other venues. It lost $86,315 in 2002-03, but a $350,000 boost in operating revenue led Penrith Whitewater to forecast it would record a profit for 2003-04.

Elsewhere, problems remain.

So-called estate levies are paid by commercial tenants to the Olympic Park authority to cover costs including maintenance and security.

Telstra Stadium has arranged to defer more than $1.5 million in levies each year, with its total debt to the authority reaching $5 million early this year.

Under the agreement, the lessee, Stadium Australia Trust, began paying back the money in March, with interest. On Friday it repaid a further $550,000, bringing the total owing to $3.6 million. But the debt will not be cleared until March 2006.

SuperDome's lessee, Millennium Partnership, owned by Abigroup, has argued since 2001 that owing to its financial position it could not pay its annual $500,000 levy. It owes $2.18 million, but it is unclear when the money will be repaid, or by whom.

The chief executive of the authority, Brian Newman, said it had chased payment since 2001 but no arrangement had been made.

Repayment of the debt is now a condition of the sale of the SuperDome, which is out to tender. Bids close on August 6.

But Abigroup placed Millennium Partnership into receivership a month ago. Mr Newman said potential buyers had been told the debt must be paid as part of the sale. "We feel very comfortable that we will recover the levies from both of those facilities."

Telstra Stadium's chief executive, Ken Edwards, said the company had asked to defer the payments as part of a financial restructure and was also paying its levies as they fell due. Abigroup did not return calls.